BOOK REVIEWS
Called Unto Holiness, Volume 2, The Story of the
Nazarenes, The Second twenty-five Years, 1933-58, by W. T Purkiser, Kansas City, M0:
Nazarene Publishing House, 1983, 356 pages. Reviewed by Melvin E. Deiter, Vice Provost and
Professor of Church History, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.
Few people would be as well qualified as W. T.
Purkiser to write the type of denominational history portrayed in this second volume of
official history of the Church of the Nazarene. The comprehensive insights he has gained
through his long personal involvement in the inner workings of the institutional life of
the church, give him certain real advantages in understanding and communicating the story.
The author seems to tell the story well from that vantage point; however only one who has
some equal sense of all the intricacies of the official life of the church could
accurately evaluate how well he has walked the tightrope between the extremes of
objectivity and subjectivity in his selection of events and his interpretation of them. To
the outsider who reads the work, he seems to make the conscious effort to keep the need
for objectivity before him as he threads his way through the complex web of personalities
and events. His presentation of those personalities and events gives us an invaluable
account of the life and accomplishment of his denomination over this quarter century.
The title of this second volume of the official
history of the Church of the Nazarene, however, quickly impresses the reader with two
factors which become essential elements in any critical review of the work. The phrase,
the Second Twenty five Years, " highlights the youth of holiness churches like the
Church of the Nazarene. It reminds us that it was only in the early decades of our own
century that these churches gathered together the adherents of the holiness revival who
were separating from or being separated from main-line Methodism. We are somewhat
surprised to realize that the story of these second twenty five years as a denomination
actually brings us up to within a generation of our own. The brief period which intervenes
makes it difficult to step away far enough in time to see people and events with true
historical perspicacity. For holiness people the "good old days" are not very
old, and that fact has to still find its proper place in their understanding of
themselves. The fact that even holiness historians still tend to regard the Pentecostal
churches as newer churches than the holiness churches, demonstrates how this tends to
affect the understanding and interpretation of the story. In fact the major
institutionalization phases of the two movements occurred at about the same period, making
them contemporaries and in many ways the mutually abrasive competitors they often became.
The seventy yearlong history of the holiness revival which preceded the rise of the
holiness denominations often has transferred undue venerability to the holiness
denominations which eventually institutionalized its values.
The other immediate impression is the dramatic
difference between the style and content of this volume and that of the first volume in
this historical series written by Timothy L. Smith. The nature of the time and the context
of the events under consideration, in some measure at least, may necessitate such
differences. There are special pitfalls for writers as they attempt to make the
adjustments required in moving from an understanding of the dynamics of a loosely
organized movement to the interpretation of the direction and confinement of most of those
dynamics within the development of a tightly knit denomination. The author is conscious,
as any scholar would have to be, of these factors and notes them in the
"Preface." They involve the difference one might experience between writing the
early history of the Standard Oil Corporation in the period when the story centered mainly
on the life of the company's eccentric founder, John D. Rockefeller, and the account of
the later years when the corporate organization was "set-in-concrete." Then the
entrepreneurial genius of someone like the founder would have been stifled long before he
could ever have gotten the enterprise on its way. The early period which centers on
persons rather than systems naturally carries wider and more engaging interest. The
presence of both of these realities—time and historical context make it difficult if
not unfair for any reviewer to allow the acclaim given to the first volume to overshadow
evaluation of the second one on its own merits or demerits.
The "Preface" raises other issues with
which the historian must struggle when writing denominational history. One basic dilemma
comes to sharp focus in the statement that, "All churches live and work in a broader
context than their own individual histories." This is explicitly official
denominational history written by someone who has been very close to the institutional
heart of the church over an extended period of time. It would be difficult to express
surprise that the major part of the book is taken up almost exclusively with the
organization's life and development. General superintendents, general assemblies, and the
official actions of general agencies fill in the story of what the Church of the Nazarene
was during this period. The author acknowledges that his account may be faulted at that
point. His rationale for that kind of methodology is one which might be given by anyone of
us who try to write history from within a church where representative agents and agencies
are responsible for interpreting the "will of the body."
The difficulty is that history which dwells too
exclusively upon the activity of persons in leadership often fails to demonstrate the
subtle processes of transferal by which the "will of the established leadership"
very easily becomes the "will of the body"; this is especially true in
conservative groups. It is of some abiding significance in such traditions that the
history can appear, as it does here, without a specific chapter devoted to life in the
local Nazarene congregations lived and related to the communities and local cultures in
which they ministered. This volume, and it is certainly not alone in this imbalance, still
leaves or even adds to the pervasive impression in holiness churches that everything
important happens, or at least originates, "at the top." Church historians need
to be more faithful to the author's excellent insight that, "Church history is the
life of the pilgrim people of God on earth lived in the dust and heat of the common lot of
man" (p. 8). The heartbeat of the "dust and heat" of common Nazarene life
rarely enters into this story except as it somehow filters up through the official life of
the church.
Another basic insight of the "Preface" is
that "No denomination exists in a vacuum. All churches live and work in a broader
context than their own individual histories" (p. 11). The value of any history of the
Church of the Nazarene during these years would have been greatly enhanced by giving some
space in the story to trying to assess the role or non role of the denomination in its
relationship with other holiness bodies and the holiness movement itself. How much truth
there is to the common perception of many of the smaller denominations of the movement
that the Nazarenes, during these years, regarded themselves as the mainstream into which
all smaller units should and would eventually flow, remains to be researched and
evaluated. Another closely related point of interest is to determine how conscious the
Nazarene leadership was of the effects of the movement of this significantly larger and
relatively self-sufficient force among the many smaller holiness bodies struggling to
solidify their denominational organizations during this same twenty-five years. For
example, the subtleties of the relationships between the Pilgrim Holiness and Nazarene
churches from their respective origins through to the period under review in this volume
may well reveal much more about the nature of the Holiness movement and both denominations
than any in-house history can produce. Such research would go a long way to answering the
prime question raised by Dr. Timothy Smith in the first volume as to whether or not the
Church of the Nazarene was aware of its responsibility to turn away from the
self-centeredness justifiably required during the development phase of any institution to
the openness of leadership and statesmanship just as justly expected by the movement as a
whole as it sought to maintain its identity in the post World War II church and world. It
is of extreme significance to the holiness movement's history that during this period the
Church of the Nazarene was still occupied mainly with its own interests. It was not part
of the active mix of the National Holiness Association, the one holiness agency where most
other holiness institutions found an arena for interaction and coordination, at the time
that NHA (now CHA) leadership passed from Methodist hands into those of the smaller
holiness churches. Perhaps the lack of any significant recognition of such issues within
this volume is some indication of the validity of the question being raised. The need for
progressive leadership called for by some in the church (as pointed out on pp. 70 and 84)
was as great in the movement of which the Church of the Nazarene was by right the bell
sheep as in that denomination itself.
Everyone in the Church of the Nazarene and in the
holiness movement is indebted to Dr. Purkiser for this new history. It will always fill an
essential role in understanding his church. Others will have to build on this account as
they write another quite different kind of history in response to questions such as those
raised above.
A Spectrum of Thought: Essays in Honor of Dennis
F. Kinlaw, edited by Michael L. Peterson. Francis Asbury Publishing Company, Inc.,
1982, 188 pp. Reviewed by David L. Thompson, Ph.D., Pastor, Aspen Hill Wesleyan Church,
Rockville, Maryland.
Presented to Dr. Kinlaw in honor of his sixtieth
birthday by colleagues, former students and professional associates, this Festschrift
succeeds in its goal of paying tribute to this great man. Beyond the fine essays
themselves, two features contribute to that success. The breadth of the topics treated
reflects the wide ranging, learned interests of this scholar who still seeks to bring all
truth under the integrating revelation of God. "Christian Scholarship and
Service," "Methodist History and Doctrine," and "Old Testament
Studies" title the three parts of the work. Fourteen writers study topics as far
afield as the significance of "the first and great commandment" for life values,
features of the life and thought of Asa Mahan, Francis Asbury and John Wesley, the meaning
of Christian scholarship itself, Biblical studies and third millennium B. C. Ebla. That
contributors include Presbyterian, Quaker, United Methodist, Nazarene, Wesleyan, Catholic
and Jewish scholars mirrors Dr. Kinlaw's own catholicity. The obvious, genuine respect and
even affection with which these friends and scholars regard the honor is also a tribute to
Dr. Kinlaw, a feature which will enable many of his other students and colleagues who read
the work to find themselves joining in the intended tribute to him.
The text of Edward L. R. Elson's 1978 Baccalaureate
address at Asbury College opens the section on "Christian Scholarship and
Service." To the tenth class to graduate under Dr. Kinlaw's presidency at Asbury
College the retired Chaplain of the United States Senate commended Matthew 22:37-39 as
setting "Life's Single Vocation," to be pursued with dignity of work, exaltation
of the intellect and complete Christian commitment. In chapter two Harold B. Kuhn,
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Religion at Asbury Theological Seminary, offers an
essay on "The Christian Scholar" in which he attempts to isolate those features
of the Christian scholar's mind, scope and heart which distinguish him or her from
"Man Thinking," described in Emerson's 1837 lecture on "The American
Scholar."
Two chapters in the book deal with the stimulating
and pioneering l9th century educator theologian, Asa Mahan. This is in part an accident of
the interests of Dr. Kinlaw's acquaintances, but is also due in part to the similarities
between the great men, Kinlaw and Mahan. In chapter three, James E. Hamilton, Professor of
Philosophy at Asbury College, studies "Intellectual Independence in the life of Asa
Mahan." Chapter eight is by Edward H. Madden, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, State
University of New York at Buffalo, an Asa Mahan scholar and Hamilton's advisor at SUNY
(Buffalo). "Asa Mahan on Freedom and Grace" is Dr. Madden's topic. In both
essays Mahan's intellectual, spiritual and professional career are powerful commendations
both of intellectual independence in Christian education and of the doctrines of freedom
and grace "forced" upon Mahan by real life over against the high Calvinism of
his childhood.
The Christian liberal arts college's task of
integrating faith and learning (as opposed merely to juxtaposing the two) is the subject
of Michael L. Peterson's address to the Asbury College Faculty retreat (Fall, 1981) which
appears as chapter 4, "The Lord of Truth." Dr. Peterson, Associate Professor of
Philosophy at Asbury College and editor of the book, also writes the excellent
introduction of the honoree and the individual contributors to the work. While the
inclusion of this chapter and the opening address by Elson run the risk of giving the
collection an overly "in house" cast, it is not offensively so, especially in
view of the fact that the topics in question are well treated and so close to Dr. Kinlaw's
life concerns.
Part two, "Methodist History and Doctrine"
is introduced by John C. Cho's contribution, "John Wesley's View of Fallen Man."
Except for the introduction and brief concluding remarks on possible implications for a
theology of missions, one has the feeling of having read it all before in works of persons
well known to WTJ readers.
Theological pluralism dependent upon an alleged
"Wesleyan quadrilateral" will have to look elsewhere for support than to Mr.
Wesley himself, according to Dr. Kinlaw's son-in-law, Allan Coppedge, Associate Professor
of Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary. In his chapter six "John Wesley and the
Issue of Authority in Theological Pluralism," he examines the relative authority of
Scripture, tradition, experience and reason in Mr. Wesley's writings and shows the latter
three to be subordinate not co-ordinate criteria with Scripture for matters of faith and
practice in Mr. Wesley.
In the most eloquently written chapter, Timothy L.
Smith presents "Francis Asbury: the Making of a Bishop and the Americanization of a
Loyalist," chapter seven. The Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University
reviews Asbury's handling of the crises related 1) to the tensions between him and Mr.
Wesley, 2) to problems caused by Wesley's intemperate criticism of the rebelling
colonists, 3) to increasing distrust by patriots of the Methodist ministers, and 4) to
division among Methodists over the founding of a separate American denomination. From all
of these crises Asbury emerged the undisputed leader of Methodism through the magnitude of
his own spiritual integrity, his devotedness to Christ, his pastoral passion and patience.
Smith supports the contention that not only Asbury but many Anglican clergy as well became
true Americans in the main through their commitments to stay with their congregations, not
from patriotic rhetoric or threats of violence. He also takes strong exception to Sidney
Mead's reading of the role of Methodists and other religionists in the shaping of America,
arguing that religious experience not political expediency best explains their
participation in the "lively experiment."
Part three, "Old Testament Studies," opens
with an essay on "Ebla and Genesis 11" by Cyrus H. Gordon, Dr. Kinlaw's Brandeis
University mentor. Now Professor of Hebraic Studies at New York University, Dr. Gordon
counsels against allowing misguided enthusiasm and early
misleading information about the Ebla materials to
denigrate the true significance of the finds there for opening new vistas in Biblical
prehistory. The Ebla archives present a world in which Sumerian was the lingua franca, a
fact Dr. Gordon seeks unconventionally to explain. The wide Sumerization occurred through
"a loose, far-flung network of operational outposts for securing various raw
materials to be processed at a 'national center,' which in prehistoric times shifted
locations, but eventually situated in Southern Mesopotamia (p. 128). Whether civilizations
in the founding go searching for raw materials for higher culture needs (gold, decorative
stone) or, on the contrary, develop the needs of their lower culture even along the lines
supported by raw materials nearer at hand is the question. That the post flood world's
international speech order seen at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) was Sumerian as
reflected in third millennium B.C. Ebla is convincing. And in view of the Sumerization at
Ebla, the derivation of the ancient name of David's capital, Jerusalem, in part from
Sumerian (not Hebrew or West Semitic), yeru- = URU, "city," (of peace) appears
correct, as claimed nearly a century ago by Sayce (cited in BDB).
Dr. Kinlaw's student and successor as president at
Asbury College, John N. Oswalt, clarifies the idea of myth in his study, "A Myth Is a
Myth Is a Myth: Toward a Working Definition." The writer critiques and rejects
definitions which 1) assume a judgment on the truthfulness of the materials because of a
pre-scientific world view of the composition (etymological), 2) take the expression of
ultimate truth in this world's imagery to be myth and so suffer from undue breadth and
from the problem of truth conveyed in imagery judged untrue (sociological), 3) make myth
the use of story to convey values but cannot determine why the term "myth"
should be applied to some stories and not others without reverting to the
truth—falsehood issue (literacy), Dr. Oswalt supports a "phenomenological"
use of the term "myth," borrowing from B. S. Childs. Here myth is a form which
"identifies deity with this world in order to control deity" (p. 141). It
assumes a whole cluster of "common features found in completely unrelated myths
around the world" (p. 141). Dr. Oswalt is able to distinguish the Old Testament's
world view from this, showing its denial in fact of the very features common to myth. He
therefore concludes, with Weiser, Childs, Bright and Frankfort, that the Old Testament is
not mythmaking, quite apart from issues of truth or falsehood.
Victor P. Hamilton is Professor of Religion and
Chairman of the Division of Philosophy and Religion at Asbury College. In chapter eleven.
"Recent Studies in Leviticus and Their Contributions to a Further Understanding of
Wesleyan Theology," Dr. Hamilton follows J. Milgrom and others in contending that in
Leviticus—Numbers it is not the deliberate sinner but rather the unrepentant sinner
who is excluded from sacrificial expiation. The evidence supports the idea that in both
the Old Testament and New sacrifice was for both inadvertent and intentional sin, if the
latter were confessed. Thus, Wesley's definition of sin as "voluntary transgression
of a known law of God" falls within the parameters of the priestly teaching on sin
and its forgiveness.
For this reviewer the most provocative entry in the
work was John F. X. Sheehan's "Remarks on Some Recent Writing About Liturgical
Evidences in Jeremiah," chapter 12. Interacting with Berridge, Bright and Reventlow,
he dares ask what one seldom sees asked in Biblical scholarship—"What is the
evidence?" Anyone frustrated with reading interlocking structures built with a
confusing combination of careful research and completely vacuous "evidences"
like "obviously," "naturally," and "who can doubt but . . ."
will be heartened to read Sheehan's response to Bright's objection that a Reventlow idea
is "unthinkable." "What argument has Bright advanced for his position other
than that these phrases are 'unthinkable' in the liturgy? Unthinkable for whom? . . . The
question, of course, is not whether they suit my experience or that of John Bright. Are
they suited to the experience of Jeremiah?" (p. 164). The article is a positive and
judicious use of form critical information to study possible liturgical features in
Jeremiah. It has the great strength of admitting and showing that present methodologies
simply do not allow definitive answers on the precise nature of the liturgical dimensions
that may lie behind selected Jeremiah texts, and also of refusing to give answers for
which evidence is wanting.
Edwin M. Yamauchi, a fellow graduate student with
Dr. Kinlaw at Brandeis and now Professor of History and Director of Graduate studies in
that department at Miami University of Ohio, concludes the tributes with a study of
"Nehemiah, A Model Leader." This thirteenth chapter is a valuable collection of
historical information for the understanding of Nehemiah and his period, a stretch of Old
Testament history often a blur to readers of Scripture.
Following the thirteen essays, Paul Vincent,
Associate Professor of Literature at Asbury College, gives "Representative Selections
from the Writings of Dennis F. Kinlaw," annotating bibliographic notes on thirty of
Dr. Kinlaw's writings under the headings, "Old Testament Studies," "Basic
Christian Doctrines," "Theology and Society," "Christian and
Education."
Practical Divinity: Theology in the Wesleyan
Tradition, by Thomas A. Langford. Abingdon Press, 1983. 303 pp. Reviewed by Rob L.
Staples, Th.D., Professor of Theology, Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City,
Missouri.
This book by the Professor of Systematic Theology at
the Duke University Divinity School is valuable reading for any Wesleyan interested in
understanding not only his "roots" but also the growth of the trunk and the
branches which make up the living "tree" of the Wesleyan faith.
The term "practical divinity" is John
Wesley's own, describing his understanding of the purpose of theology—it must be
practical. Intended as a survey of the development of the Wesleyan tradition from John
Wesley down to the present day, the book covers much ground and does not go into great
detail at any point. But it is admirably accurate in summarizing the thought of the many
theologians who have contributed to the Wesleyan tradition.
The dynamic of this multi-faceted tradition unfolds
as the author treats thinkers as diverse as Adam Clarke and John B. Cobb, Jr., Richard
Watson and Geoffrey Wainwright, or H. Orton Wiley and James H. Cone. The book is more
descriptive than critical, most of the theologians surveyed being presented in a favorable
light. At points one wishes the author had been more incisive in examining the weakness of
the thinkers under discussion, and questioning their compatibility with original
Wesleyanism. But this defect is outweighed by the way Langford shows how each theologian
has made his own unique contribution to this living tradition.
The opening chapter deals with the origins of the
tradition in John Wesley's own thought. Langford follows Albert Outler in describing
Wesley's contribution to the history of Christian thought as the recognition that
the older Reformation tendency to polarize 'faith
alone' and 'holy living' truncated the full Christian message. Wesley was convinced that
the two must be held together and he attempted to speak for this larger vision (p. 22).
Chapter two, entitled "Scriptural Christianity: John Wesley's Theology of
Grace," depicts Wesley's doctrines of justification, prevenient grace, assurance,
Christian perfection, and the church. In his discussion of Christian perfection, Langford
rightly states that, for Wesley, holiness is a gift of grace, not an achievement (p. 41)
and he calls attention to Wesley's "strong emphasis on entire sanctification"
and to his dual emphasis on gradual and instantaneous sanctification. He says, putting
much of Wesley's ordo salutis in a nutshell:
New birth, which occurs instantaneously, is followed
by a gradual sanctification, which may lead to an instantaneous event of entire
sanctification. A subsequent gradual development should also follow this event (p. 41).
Chapters 3 through 11 trace the spread of Wesleyanism in Britain and America in the
19th and 20th centuries, viewing it against the background of changing cultural
environments, and analyzing the teaching of each significant theologian responsible for
the development of the tradition.
Of special interest to WTJ readers will be chapter
6, entitled "Holiness Theology." Here the author surveys the contribution of the
Holiness Movement to the ongoing spread of Wesley's message. The Holiness Movement is seen
as a vital and valid part of historic Methodism. Langford assesses the work of some
representative holiness scholars, past and present, and shows an acute awareness of the
creative theological discussions now being carried on in holiness circles. He says:
Holiness theologians are now assessing the roots of
their doctrine of sanctification and are relating the implications of their positions to
actual experience. Whatever the final conclusions, and whether or not consensus is
achieved, the discussion has enriched the historical understanding of the teaching of
Christian perfection (p. 143).
Langford adds the observation that "holiness theology is alive, and it remains a
partner with others who claim Wesleyan roots and who wish to continue in the Wesleyan
spirit" (p. 146).
Langford's treatment of holiness theology is just
one among many recent indications that Methodist scholars are looking at the holiness
movement with renewed appreciation for its faithfulness to a part of Wesley's message
which modern Methodism has too much neglected. Such scholars are graciously inviting us to
work with them in the re-examination of this neglected theme. Let us hope that we in the
holiness movement can, with equal graciousness, enter such dialogues with renewed
appreciation for the Methodist soil out of which our distinguishing message sprang.
The final chapter, on "The Character of
Wesleyan Theology," enumerates the themes which, according to Langford, constitute
the nucleus of the Wesleyan tradition—"biblical witness to Jesus Christ, vital
experience of God in Christ as Savior and Sanctifier, commitment to human freedom and
ethical discipleship, and the shaping of church life around missional responsibility"
(p. 263).
The entire book could be called an enlargement of
Langford's vision, described on page 23, that "from John Wesley's life and thought, a
tradition was born. By him, a past was reshaped. >From him, a stream still flows,
seeking to express, in changing contexts, his concern for practical divinity."
Edited by Jason Gingerich
for the
Wesley Center for Applied Theology
at Northwest Nazarene University
© Copyright 2000 by the Wesley Center for Applied Theology
Text may be freely used for personal or scholarly
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